The Team House - Former Chilean Special Operations Officer | John | Ep. 133

Episode Date: February 19, 2022

On this episode we get a rare inside view from one of our foreign special ops partners, John who has served as an officer in the Special Operations community in Chile. We'll discuss his country's special ops, and a unique mission he participated in as the Colombian conflict with FARC drew to a close. Today's Sponsors: 👇 A-TAC FITNESS (Veteran owned and operated) https://www.ATACFITNESS.com Use the promo code "TEAM10" for 10% off! Selection Starts Here. Thanks for supporting the companies that support the show! Want 2 bonus episodes per month and access to the bonus segments? Subscribe to our Patreon!👇 https://www.patreon.com/TheTeamHouse Team House merch: https://teespring.com/stores/my-store-10474963 Social Media Links:  The Team House Instagram: https://instagram.com/the.team.house?utm_medium=copy_link The Team House Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheTeamHousePod Jack’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/jackmcmurph?utm_medium=copy_link Jack’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackmurphyrgr?s=21 Dave’s Twitter:  https://twitter.com/dave_parke?s=21 Team House Discord: https://discord.gg/wHFHYM6 SubReddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheTeamHouse/ Jack Murphy's memoir "Murphy's Law" can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Murphys-Law-Journey-Investigative-Journalist/dp/1501191241 The Team Room Reading Room (Amazon Affiliate links): https://jackmurphywrites.com/the-team-room-reading-room/ Intro music by https://www.youtube.com/user/RemixSample Want to sponsor the show? Email: 👇 [e-mail] #teamhouse #specialoperations #covertopsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support.

Being a parent can be really challenging. It's normal to feel uncertain about whether you're doing the right things to raise healthy and happy children. That's why Child and Family Resource Network focuses on connecting pregnant parents and those with kids under the age of five with free support services to help them build confidence in their parenting journey. Everyone deserves to have someone they can turn to for support with parenting. Visit child and family resource network.org today. Being a parent can be really challenging. Child and Family Resource Network focuses on connecting pregnant parents and those with kids under the age of five,

with free support services to help them on their parenting journey. Everyone deserves someone they can turn to for help with parenting. Visit Child and Family Resource Network.org today. Special operations, covert ops, espionage, the team house, with your hopes, Jack Murphy and David Park. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the team house. This is episode 133.

I'm Jack Murphy here with Dave Park. Today, we have a special guest on the show joining us live from Santiago, Chile. He is a former special operation soldier in his country's military. John, welcome to the show, man. Thank you. Jack, Dave.

Hi, guys. It's a pleasure and an honor to be on your show. Yeah, I'm super excited, and thanks guys for having me. John spent, he's been in the military for 20 years. He's spent 16 of that in the special operations community down there. And we really like on the team house to highlight our partner forces, our allies and partners overseas. We kind of don't do enough of it sometimes, but we've talked about the Filipino forces on here. We've had some of our European allies on here.

but we don't get so often these opportunities to talk to our partners down in South America. So I really appreciate you coming on the show tonight. Thanks, thanks, yeah, absolutely. Well, I reckon there is like a language barrier there, but yeah, absolutely. So, John, if you could, I'd like to ask you about your origin story. I'd like you to tell us about your upbringing in Chile and what that path was that brought you towards the military. Yeah, yeah, sure. So there are no militaries on either side of my family at all.

So I was the first one, which was super weird for everyone when I picked up this career path. So yeah, well, where can I start? Like I would say high school, I wasn't like the best behave, I would say. So when I was at high school, there was just this thing called detention. I don't know if you guys got it in the US. Yes, we do. Okay, if you misbehave over here, you have to go to school on Saturdays and spend all the morning till midday doing something around school.

So I spent most of my week in Saturdays there. And I had these teachers that made me pick a book from the library and then write a summary. So I was looking around the hallways. on the library and I started finding these World War II books and some of them were on I don't know different stories of World War II like Blitzkrieg or the SAS or something like the OSS or like those stories so I started reading that and then I became fascinated by small teams and SF and the whole World War II thing with the special forces.

So when I turn 18, I don't know, most kids, I wasn't sure what was my next move. So then I decided, okay, that's it. I mean, I'm going to try for this. I wasn't very mature for going to college. So I thought that I wasn't very disciplined at all. So I thought, like, yeah, I definitely could use some of that.

So I applied. And yeah, and that started my, my career path. And as soon as I was able, I applied for SF. And fortunately, I graduated from SF. So I made my whole career within the team. So that's how it started. Could you tell us about what that process was for you as a young man in your country and what that pipeline looked like back? And presumably, we're talking what early 90s that you were going through this? Yeah, it was, let's see, 1999, actually. Okay. Yeah, my last, 98 was my last high school year.

Then 99 I went in. And there were like a couple of paths over here to start your career. So I went to the officer's path. It took me four years in one of our academies. I graduated and then applied to SF. It was the best decision I've ever made. I really enjoyed it. We weren't like a lot of us applying for it. But yeah, it was hard at the beginning and that started the next after applied for a Cep which took him roughly I would say a year

or so all the tests, all the admin things and like all the clearance and then and then yeah so I got accepted to the what would be pretty much our version of the Navy's Marsog, Marine Force, recon, kind ofish course. Now, did you pick, did you pick a branch? Like, I want to go in the Army SF or the Navy SF? Or did you, is there like a general selection and then they branch you off after that? Well, yeah, well, this was 15, 16 years ago. Also, I reckon that's pretty different right now, but when I applied, it was like pretty much you wouldn't know where you were going to be sent.

So it turns out that I was like six or seven months before they told me, yeah, you're going to the Navy and that's it. Oh, so in Chile, then when you apply or whatever, you apply to the military in general, but not necessarily to a specific branch? Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Okay, that's interesting. And so what was the selection course like? So I reckon the tests are pretty much standard. Since it was a Navy course, it was focused on water comps. Just making sure you wouldn't drown.

And then some racking and then some fitness test and general strength. And it was hard, but not many guys quitted at that point. So a whole bunch of us got accepted. I reckon it was roughly around, I don't know, 60-ish guys in total. And then we started first day. And any SF first day, man, it lasts forever. So, yeah. So it was super cool.

I mean, there was just the whole bell thing and, like, everything was very well set up. And I really loved it. I even had a US instructor there for the whole process. It was, yeah, I was a Marine Force recon guy. We still text each other, awesome guy. He retired as well, but we still keep in touch with each other every now and then. So, yeah, and then it started, and then slowly, but surely, a lot of guys, start ringing the bell.

And, well, you know how it is. I mean, it was like when someone rings the bell, man, it just, I'm still here, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So the process that John's talking about is, and I think they do this in Budge too, but, but when you quit, you actually have to physically go up and ring the bell. And you're announcing, you're announcing that you're quitting. Yeah, yeah.

Every single morning, like, there would be like this. I don't know how you guys call it, but it's kind of a small formation, I would say. And then the guys would have the chance to, like, ring the bell. So there was a proper biggest Navy's ring a bell there. So, yeah, it was cool. Which is a really, I think, a really tough way to quit. Like, that would be so, if you were thinking about quitting, that would be the hardest. Like, just that process alone would keep me from quitting anything.

if you had to go up. It's like standing in front of the formation going, hey, everybody, yeah, it's Dave, I'm quitting. I remember, I'm sure I've told this story before, but when I was in the Ranger Indctrination program, one of the instructors did the opposite. They were smoking us all night, and they had us lay down on the, like, face first in the dirt. Right. And the guy starts giving us this speech. He's like, listen, men, you can be a good American and still quit this course. Yeah. You could be a good American, go serve in another unit.

Listen, everyone's looking. looking straight down at the dirt, no one will see you quit. Yeah. You can just get up, you right now, you can go eat an MRI over by the fire, and you can still be a great American somewhere else. And like, guys on either side of me got up and quit right there. That's it, like, that makes it easier. To me, that makes it easier to quit, you know, where you could just like sneak out.

Right, right? In the dead of night. Yeah. Yeah. I was wondering, guys, when did you guys start your SF pipelines? For me, you guys are both ringers, right? For me, it was 2002. I mean, I, you know, I did die school in, like, you know, the late 90s, I guess.

And then, like, Navy dive school, hard hat die school. Yeah, yeah. Then Ranger, I was 27. So that was like 2014. No, I'm just kidding. No, that was like 97. So 89, I met, not 99, 89, and then 97. Shit.

Okay, yeah, cool. Yeah, because this was, my story starts on 05. So I was 20, 23-ish, yeah, something. So, yeah, by the time you got into the actual pipeline. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Because you were in the academy before that. Yep, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so before moving on, I would like to back up just a little bit

and ask you about the history of Chilean special operations forces because it's something we don't know anything about. I would really like to hear about how the special operations capabilities came about and developed in your nation. Yeah, that's a super good question. I'm not by any means a history teacher or anything. So it started around the 60s, like the early 60s, I would say pretty much all around Latin America, and we were not the exception of it. So you guys like the Green Berets and the Rangers came over and started setting up the program for our forces, which was fully conventional.

But there were some pretty smart guys, you know, very smart. They start figuring out, yeah, we need some specific capabilities here for defense purposes. And yeah, I reckon it was early 60, 60, 62's up to maybe 68. when they start developing all these, we would call them X programs, like getting guys in and figuring out how we would set up by SF capability here. And it was all the services, I would reckon, and that's how it started. And then we adopted, which is super cool, because we adopted a lot of traditions from our aborigines, I would say, like from our own.

indigenous culture. Yeah, indigenous people that were here, because we were a colony for a while. And so we were a Spanish colony. And then we had all our aborigines fighting for, because they didn't want the Spaniards to conquer their, whatever was it. Like, it wasn't a country, you know. So those guys were like super smart. and they start learning how to apply guerrilla warfare against the Spaniards. So we adopt that tradition, and they're, like, fascinating stories about them,

and how they start fighting this, like, fully armored, force-riding guys, and they started with just stones and sticks. And slowly, but surely, they start to learn how to use our weapons and use them against them and, like, pretty much setting up ambushes and so on and so forth. So we adopted a lot of those cultural aspect, I would say, on our SF. So that's how it started as I would guess. And then what are the different special operations units in your country and their different capabilities and if you could kind of cover that and how they sort of came about?

Yeah, yeah, sure. So, well, like this is like you can Google all this, but so, yeah, every single branch got it, it's SF units. but it's more a joint effort so the guys were very close together and it's pretty much set up

the same way as the US and the NATO forces would set up their SF and pretty much the same roles and the standardized set of missions for every single force so

it's pretty much the same I would say that as how you guys and the NATO set up it's a special forces. So do the different units have different names like the Navy SF? Do they have a different name than say the Army SF? Or are they just? Yeah, generally speaking, and this is not only for us, it's just the whole thing around Latin America. We're all called commandos when we are serving. And then it's got the very specified on its specific branch. But yeah, it's pretty much

commandos for every single guy that goes through their pipeline. Okay. Interesting. But what are those different units if you could kind of cover them, the family of special operations units in your country? Yeah, right. So the army is the biggest one, of course. The armies got like commandos, which would be pretty much like the reindeer units, super specialized light infantry. They got the SF units. like the Green Berets and pretty much set up the same way. We've got specialized mountain units also. Power troopers, maybe I'm missing some of our guys over there.

I'm not thinking. In the Navy, we've got the seals and the Marsok guys, which was the path that I took and the Air Force, they've got their own SF as well. So pretty much that's how it's set up around. Like its branch got its own teams. Yeah. And is the Air Force unit set up sort of like the PJCCCST model?

Yeah, yeah, pretty much, yeah. And what was the, I mean, this is interesting because, you know, as you were telling us before we started the show, your country has really been pretty much at peace for 100 years now. Yeah, yeah. Thankfully, unlike many other parts of the world. Yeah, yeah. Nonetheless, your government and your military stood up these special operations capabilities.

What were some of the security threats that they saw that they envisioned these units responding to, be it maybe communism during the 1960s or the drug wars going on through the 80s and 90s to today? I mean, what are some of those threats that they see you potentially responding to? Yeah, that's a good question. Honestly, I'm not sure about that level of decision that was made, but I reckon that the guys were like back in the 60s, they figured out that mobility was a big issue. We've got a super long country and a very thin one. If like the others, we'd like Google it, you'll see that it's continental Chile. it's a bit longer than 4,500 and something kilometers.

So it's pretty much coast to coast. If you put it over a map of the U.S., and all across Europe, of course. So it's super long, but super thin. So therefore, you need to move guys super fast. And if there was any security threat, you need units that would be able to perform and deliver within the driest desert or within the southern snowish places or up in the mountains, super high mountains, actually.

We're talking about way about 15,000 feet above sea level. And well, on the coast, of course. So someone figured out, okay, we need some SF capability that can deploy quickly around all these areas and be able to fight on all those scenarios. So, yeah, I reckon that was. the decision made. Cool. So what was actually

when you went through your training to be like a Marine Recon guy, what did the training consist of? What were some of the capabilities that you guys were trying to develop there? Well, yeah, back then, because again, it was 16 years ago, I don't know what the guys are doing

right now. But by then it was all direct action. I mean, it was all direct action oriented and reconnaissance capabilities. and special reconnaissance capability. So like the whole process, which to build a team that was able to perform, those are mission packages at a very high level.

So, yeah, roughly, it was 25 weeks or so long, and it starts with a lot of pool training, four weeks training on the first phase. Then if you completed this for these four weeks, you get a wetsuit and then you'll start learning how to dive and then how to combat dive and then how to perform all the diving process as in combat wise, like night dives and all those sort of things. and at that point you'll start learning how to do all your weapons or your demos or you're planning and then you'll go into a very long process of learning how you perform on all those scenarios and those terrains that I explained you guys before so and that takes around roughly six six something months.

And then you graduate from that, which is the hardest part. And then you go with a follow-on trainings, which is like pretty standard for any SF guy. And then you go static line, free fall, the master,

and then some other schools if you're able to get your hands on. And then pretty much it's been 1.5 to two years pipeline. And then you're able to go and like start training with the with their team. Wow. That's quite a pipeline.

Yeah, I mean, due to the diverse environment, that must be pretty challenging for your soft teams that I'm just envisioning in my mind. You must have guys who are able to do maritime operations, high altitude mountaineering, you know, all these different types of environments that you have to contend with. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It's quite challenging. And for us, it's quite expensive, I would say, when I was with the teams, it was super expensive to keep current on all those capable of it, I would say. So, yeah, but it is what it is.

I mean, it's what we got. So, and we have to, like, maximize the use of all those terrains and perform at an adequate level for NSF unit on all those terrain. So, yeah. What's, you said that you did, like, static line and then a free fall. Halo and the Jetmaster and then other schools, if you could get them. For you guys, like, what are the cherry schools? What are the schools that everybody wants it? You're jealous of when somebody else has it and you don't.

Well, I was super lucky, Dave, because I had at least, I wasn't the brightest, of course, but I was super, like, pushy, I would say. And I would, like, try harder as much as I could to, like, overpass. certain weakness, I would say. So I had pretty good mentors while I was, well, I was active with the teams. So there was his colonel that he figured out, like, you are super young still to like be in command of a team. So just go to schools and get experience there. And then you will be able to like plan in your head bigger things. And that's the thing. Like get as much as cool as you can on the first years because I was like super young career-wise, I would say.

So like the pretty much like the coolest, I would say it's mountains leader course, which is not just for itself. Everyone can go there, but the army has got this street as eight months mountain training. And you do everything that's mountain related, like rock climbing, ice climbing. And then some sweet three months ski course over the Andes Mountains. So it's a super nice course. And yeah, I was super lucky. And I went through that course and I graduated from it.

That sounds awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it's super cool. And you go like to civilian ski resorts and everything. So it's a great way. There you go. Now we know the real reason. Because I was just going to ask you that.

Like what are some of the choices? Like even if they're not, did you guys get to go to schools outside of Chile? like to other schools? Yeah, yeah. Well, every now and then, yeah, like, they're still super expensive, but every now and then, there are some chances to, like,

get some training abroad. And, yeah, yeah, so there are a few seats around. And they just, they just ask for English. So I got a couple of them. Nice. Dave, you want to give a shout out to our sponsor? for the show tonight? Oh, absolutely. So talking about water, of course, is what our partner tonight is ATAC fitness. And ATAC puts out these great kits for swimmer training. So if you're preparing for

a selection or you're really just trying to get back in shape. And I think John can testify that water is probably, it's one of the hardest elements, but it's also, it's also as you're getting older, if you're getting older, it's one of those things that won't break your body. like throwing on a ruck or pounding pavement for 20 miles. But they sell these great kits. They have these rocket fins, really firm rubber, vented, open heel, great construction to keep you in shape. Their kits come with a couple different types of masks.

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Just remember a secret. Yeah, I'll definitely take advantage of the Team 10 at A-deck fitness, dude, because I don't have any gear anymore. Oh, well, definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you leave the teams, you don't take the gear, so. Well, in America, you do, but you're not supposed to. You just sneak out with it or you take your buddy's gear and make him pay for it all. But it's atacfitness.com, atacfitness.com, a T-A-C-Fitness.com.

promo code team 10 for 10% off. That's team 10 for 10% off. A-TAC fitness selection starts here. So, John, tell us about when you finished, you told us a little bit about some of the more coveted schools. But what was it like, you know, life in your unit once you got there? Yeah, at the beginning, because I was, again, super young, so it was hard. And then, yeah, I remember it was super challenging because I reckon there is this barrier that you have to go through, especially as a young officer. And you have to, like, prove yourself, I guess, and make sure that you guys will follow you and not follow you because of your rank, which is super easy.

So I think and I've talked to like my friends which are not SF and I always say like the hardest leadership test is to graduate from whatever SF course because at least over here you you're handle a number and you put a number in your helmet and it's based on how high you are it's not based on the rank that you got when you you started the first day at the SF course or whatever course you're going through. So so then you have to like prove yourself within within your classmates and make sure that they'll support you and that you're able to leave them on the whole course path, I would say. And then when you start up, when you go to the teams, it's pretty much all over again. And then you have to prove yourself and then take care of the guys and

make sure they get the proper training. And if they've got issues, just be aware of it and try to help them even though like with the limited tools that you've got. So it was challenging. I remember like vividly. It was very, very hard the first years. But then again, this guy that was kind of my mentor back then, he put me one of the oldest, hardest, wisest NCOs in my team. I didn't like him at the beginning because I wanted to do my thing, you know. But he was super bright and he put me a very good NCO, second in command of my team. And it was awesome. I still text him every round then and he retired a long ago. So he's doing his thing, but he was awesome. I would, I reckon first four years of my career. So he was also a very good mentor as an SEO for me.

Were there any impressions you had as a young leader, what your job as a leader was or how you should act, that changed as you actually led troops? Yeah, yeah, that's very interesting because There are like fundamental difference as how we lead down here as how you guys lead over in the US, I would say, or some more advanced countries, if you will. So we tend to lead from up front instead of leading from behind, I would say. So it's a lot of, we take a lot of the work from, let's say, a staff sergeant in the US on one of your teams, I would say. So an officer is supposed to do a lot of what serge would do, like, a senior serge would do on one of your teams.

So it's kind of a bit different there. So it implies dominating, I think, a little bit more on the technical issues, but then also getting to the more admin political issues of your role. So that's a little bit different, I would say, between you guys and us. So you have to take care of both things, I would say. Yeah. It's interesting. So would you say, because I know that in our military, you know, the NCOs are generally considered the backbone of the military because as you said, they do take a lot of those sort of supplementary leadership positions. So the officer has the bigger view, but maybe not the hands on where you're saying,

that as an officer there, you have both the hands on and the bigger view. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Would you, I don't want to put words in your mouth. Would you say that your NGO core, then it's not as stressed or like there isn't as much emphasis put on the NCOs in like the Chilean military? Well, that's a good question. I would say no, no, definitely no. our NCOs is still like the backbone of every single armed force and especially in this DSF like officers as you could like imagine

were just a very little part of the force and definitely these guys are like lifting the whole way but then again because of our I don't know what's the word in English like idiosyncrasia is it right? Your idiosyncrasies? Yeah, yeah. Latin America idiosyncrasy. It's pretty much, it kind of draws a line between both worlds. But then you go into a set and there's not that, like, harder line, I would say.

So it mixes, it starts mixing a lot. And the guys start taking a lot of admin and leadership roles as well. but then again you're still responsible for all the technical aspects of a training mission or whatever so it makes it very interesting how you like how each team

starts getting the job done I would say and then I've talked to my when I was with the teams a year ago or so when I was doing like men things you know the guys

it depends who you got as a team leader also. Being a parent can be really challenging. It's normal to feel uncertain about whether you're doing the right things to raise healthy and happy children. That's why Child and Family Resource Network focuses on connecting pregnant parents and those with kids under the age of five with free support services to help them build confidence in their parenting journey. Everyone deserves to have someone they can turn to for support with parenting.

Visit child and family resource network.org today. I remember some of my SEOs. Like, yeah, I came from a team with not that much of a strong leadership or not that much of a technical leadership from the previous officer. So the guys had to like pick up from there and start making sure that the guys were getting the proper training and proper decision-making process, I would say, due to the failures of that specific officer. Right.

So being a parent can be really challenging. Child and Family Resource Network focuses on connecting pregnant parents and those with kids under the age of five with free support services to help them on their parenting journey. Everyone deserves someone they can turn to for help with parenting. Visit child and family resource network.org today. Yeah. Yeah. I imagine that can be challenging. Very.

Um, I guess I don't know how far I was. want to fast forward. Before we get to Columbia, what was that span of time like for you then? You know, being on the team, I mean, I think you answered a little bit, but being on that team and then 9-11 happens,

which, I mean, did that even have a very big effect on you guys and your forces down there? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I reckon it had. Well, I went through Pablan. I started my old five, so you guys were already involved.

over the global war on terrorism. Sorry, but definitely shape a lot of our training, I would say, and there was a lot of influence on how we were doing things around here. And I vividly remember how some training things started to shift a little bit based on lessons learned from you guys. So, yeah, there was definitely, there was some influence. And not only for us, I've talked to, like, many of my Latin American peers. and it goes down like it starts to disseminate the information and you start learning things that you guys were living and going through.

And it definitely affects training and it definitely affects how you are setting up units and setting up different scenarios. So yeah, there was a lot of influence, I would say. Was there ever, I mean, I don't know, like, the situation in central and South America, but was there ever much of a radical Islamic presence where that was a concern or it was just like a possibility, like contingency planning? Yeah, yeah, pretty much contingency planning. And at least up to my level when I was with the teams, I wasn't aware there was any threat of an Islamic terrorism around the area or anything.

No. It's interesting. I was wondering if you could speak. I mean, you did a little bit, but speak towards the relationship between the United States and your country, specifically the relationship between our special operations guys and yours and what that relationship looks like. Yeah, yeah. I think it's a good question. I would say, and this is of course my opinion, I would say the contrary to like the general whatever is it like general thinking. We share with the U.S. a lot of training, I would say, but it's not that big. It's not that, yeah, it's not that big, and it's honestly every now and then. It's not a thing that we do regularly, I would say.

But yeah, there is some training. There are some, every now and then. a joint-combine exchange training thing, and every now and then there's some courses opening. But we get charged for everything, so we don't get scholarships or anything. So we have to pay for everything to you guys. So someone figured out over the State Department we pay for everything now. So yeah, so we get some training with you guys, absolutely. And you guys are the biggest influence around Central Latin America, of course.

more than the rest of their other countries. But yeah, so we train with you guys. And as I said before, we learn a lot from your experience over your war. So there is some formation, some friendship. And you know how the SF communities? I mean, you go to whatever country and someone recognizes as SF. And there's some sort of weird bond. So, yeah, we do.

We do train with you guys every now and that. And then what about like more local countries? Do you guys have strong alliances with them that bring on a lot of joint exercises? Are there like? Yeah, yeah. I remember when I was back with the teams, there was an increasingly partnership with the, with the Argeist. Like the, well, we spoke a bit about this, like the FISA Commandos thing that we do with all the Latin American. Central American countries. So there is some partnership, partnership going on. I was super lucky

like to meet with a lot of Latin America and SF from our countries next to us, like the Peruvians, the RGs, which are our neighbors. So I was super lucky to like train with them and we became very close friends again. So it's super nice to like, like this whole community thing. But at the bigger level, I'm not sure because I haven't been with the teams for a while. So I don't know if there's anything going on there. Could you describe the international commando competition that all of you guys in South Central America have? Yeah, absolutely.

So, well, it's sponsored by you guys. So you guys were the Sox South, I believe, is the organization or, sponsor all these FISA Commandoos competition and each country gets its turn as a hosting nation and therefore it

plans and it set up all the training scenarios for FFSA Commandoos and yeah so 2019 was our year and we were the ones that we're hosting FFSA Commandoes and pretty much it's 19 countries that compete against each other for the super top Latin American, Central American tier, whatever, SF team. So it's pretty cool. There are some countries that they, like within Central America, they send their version of SWAT or something, and they compete with those guys.

So it's pretty interesting competition, and it's super hard physically. wise and mentally wise and it comes with a rocking around 20thquake march shooting there's a lot of shooting sniper shooting close-quarter combat shooting both rifle and gun there is a precision free-fold jumping competition there and there is some room clearance competitions and then someone like every now and then it comes with a specific surprise based on their benefit. So, yeah, there's some small competitions and some surprises there. So it's a nice competition and it's a nice opportunity to bring us all together. Absolutely.

What was Chile's surprise event? I don't remember. I think it had to do with something with Anders Mountain. I think there were two big guys up to high ground. because every altitude. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I think we're something like that. Like, yeah, guess why? We're rocking, I don't know, 15,000 feet or something.

Yeah, there's some countries I don't have that. So, yeah, that's the other thing that'll break you in addition to water is,

is that altitude. Yeah. It's horrible. That's super nice. When you get to the peak, like, it takes you like a few days and then you get there.

Like that view, it's awesome. It's really nice. Yeah. I just have somebody take a foot. photo and or put me on FaceTime. FaceTime.

Same to walk. And you said some of the countries basically field teams that that's all they do. That's that's they are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, absolutely. And there's like no criticism on it. Like, like, but our brothers from Columbia, they set up their team as a full time training team of SF guys.

And just with that only purpose. like rock stars in Colombia because of a they just do that I mean they just go training the whole year and they go to the next competition and of course this was all before tricking COVID but yep they guys train all year so yeah that'd be like putting the leap frogs or the or the uh the golden nights up against like yeah yeah yeah just a soft a soft halo team yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah No, that's that's really interesting. I mean, do you, is there a lot of, outside of that competition, is there a lot of like, rivalry between?

I heard from the seventh group guys that it's very competitive. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And how do you know what? I mean, I don't know, maybe it's just me because I had like an awesome time with, with whoever was his chef. and we met either we was here in Chile or at their own country or, I don't know, we were getting some whatever we were doing in the U.S., and we were like, bounced into each other and say, oh, you're from ex-country in Latin America, and you're saying, yeah, cool, yeah, let's go

and have a drink. So we were super fun. I mean, I made a lot of friends and relations there because of the only fact that we both went through some whatever pipeline it was. How many bars? There's a hard competition, but there's also a lot of friendship there. How many bars get burnt down in general, rather than that many parties were pretty fun? Yeah.

Well, if you guys have you guys been to like Florida area, for a local area? Yeah, I reckon it's the same ageist bar that every single guy that goes over that area starts burning it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Been to ages. So tell us about this mission that you. got assigned to Columbia. I mean, start with, you know, how did, how did that come about?

Oh, so, so it wasn't, it was not for SF, I would say. Like, it wasn't, I wasn't sent there because I was an SF guy. So, I was TDIY for a full year to the UN, actually. So I was working for the UN when I went to Columbia. And, um, and the UN, You guys have had some guests that worked in the UN. The UN, it's a very interesting place to work. And I was super lucky because I started like at the very lowest

etylons of the organization. And even though I was still at the very lowest, I was able to like work some other places. So yeah, so there was this effort. It was an international effort due to the P process. that was being signed by the FARC leaders, the Colombian government, as supported by the international community through the United Nations.

So these guys got together, they signed a peace agreement, which would mean that the FARC would have X amount of time to be armed, demobilized, and reintegrate to the civilian society within Colombia. And based on those facts, there was this international effort of sending international observers that would help and ease that process since these guys have been fighting for like 50 years, 53 years actually.

So I applied. I mean, when I saw it, I was like, I read the email and was like, yeah, I'm applying for this. Because I've always been fascinated by guerrilla warfare and like small team tactics. And this was the fire guys. time and regardless of what everyone could think about them it was the largest biggest longest longest guerrilla force within the world i mean it was the last biggest uh guerrilla so so i had to be part of that so that's how it started and so you applied for this job you got it and i mean

what what was the job actually what were you to do over there so yeah so i was part of the second team that was sent there. So the first team was right at the beginning. And the first teams went there were like, yeah, they went into Columbia and they started setting up the places where these guys were going to handle their weapons. And in return, they would get a compensation package from the Colombian government. So the first team of international observers that went there, they were setting up these physical places for them to arrive and start handling their weapons and then start living in a semi-permanent camps. And then eventually, within the next X amount of time, years we're speaking here, they would

reintegrate to society. So the first team went in and my peers were there for like around six months or so. they started coming back and then I was sent there and it was I really loved it because it was an absolutely individual deployment so you just went in as a one-man team and yeah I arrived to Bogota initial briefing was like a week or so and then I was pushed to Medellin and then from Medellin, like within 24 hours or so I was sent to some other place in northeastern of Medellin and there was this UN camp there, a Colombian army camp around like a clique or so and then a click or so to the other side, which is a FARC camp.

And then we finished pretty much what the guys were doing before, like, but there wasn't any more weapons the guys were handling in. And so I became part of the very first teams to view weapons cash extractions within the jungle with the fireguise. So I was super lucky because of that. And yeah, I did that for around four or five months. And then the chief of staff with the mission wanted one international observer. And so I got that job.

And then I was for the next months, I was... months I was doing H-Q work pretty much, so I was doing some other stuff. So that's, that's kind of the short version of it. So you were going out with these FARC members to locate their weapon caches out in the jungle? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How was that for you? How was it for them? Was there a lot of resentment going on? Well, not against us at all, because I was, I was, part of like the international community through the UN so so there was no resentment for us against us I would say um there was a little bit still within the Colombian military and Colombian police because of how long they've been fighting I mean 53 years yeah it's at at least two generations

like like it's a long time er but when I got there the guys were like working together leather canovish. There were, there was not a lot of issues there, at least not where I was stationed. And so pretty much the con-ups for that was we would plan with the far guys, some place within the jungle, and then a UN-Russian-leased helicopter. to pick us up. Then we'd drop us at some point within the, that they would recognize as a place that they uses logistics, cashiers, points around. And then we spend the next seven days or so walking around the jungle with them,

figure it out where the weapons cashes because the guys weren't using PS for the weapons cashier's process for them. There was just this random guy that was like, yeah, yeah, I think I'd, I'd, I'd, with all the weapons here. And that's pretty much how it was amazing. It was like, it was like, amazing because it was like I was asking for grids, no grids at all.

And the guys was like, yeah, around here. Yeah, let's start digging around here. Yep, that's the place. This general area of the jungle. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I remember one guy was like, I became very close with the guys.

Just like everything. like you become close to whoever after a couple of drinks, I guess. So, yeah, so I was fascinated by their story. And, you know, small unit tactics applies to everyone within those, within those, that little world, I would say. So I started talking to the guys like every day. And then so we went to these weapons case extraction missions. the guys were pretty open with me at that point.

So yeah, we were looking for this weapons casets. And yeah, I remember one of the guys saying, you know what, I just don't remember when I buried, like my stack of weapons. Because it was during the night, so let's wait until the night, and then it'll come back to me. And that's how we did it. I mean, we waited there like for hours until there was no light at all.

and the guy was like, yeah, I remember this river. Okay, let's go down. Yeah, I remember this tree. Okay, and like the little kids, what they play, uh, Pirates Treasure? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, he started counting. I was just wondering if they put their back to a tree and like, pace off. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely right. Yeah, that's how it was. And I was like, yeah, it's here. So let's start digging.

And we start digging now that it was a big, us, a 1,000-liter bin, right? that the biggest spins and we started to pull it out and yeah it was full of a case so yeah it is it was like that that's amazing now were there were there splinter groups or holdouts you know still in out there that you guys had to worry about uh yeah but but yeah yeah there were there was um i i don't know how much you guys know about like the columbian guerrilla warfareish paramilitary scenery, but there is, when we were there, there were, it was the farm, which is the biggest one, and there were still, like, I reckon it was a thousand something guys that didn't sign

the peace agreement, so they just scattered, and they started reorganizing as their own guerrilla group right now. But that was just one. paramilitary or guerrilla group because they were like when I was there there were another 14 or so guerrilla groups cells or whatever is it all around the jungle so yeah there was a lot of to worry about when you did get to know these park guys and we're having drinks with them I mean did you get to hear some of their war stories and there's some some of their perceptions of the conflict and the peace agreement yeah absolutely I it's very interesting.

It's all based on, what's the word, like the first impressions and your biases that you've got before actually doing something. So, of course, I had biases before going over to Colombia and I read all these books about FARC and all these books about the Colombian military fighting FARC and back and forward. And it was like, yeah, okay,

so I was a little bit biased when I went, there and I remember the first time that we drove from Medell into this UN camp, right next to the FAR camp and the army camp. And we stopped the cars at some random dining place for lunch or something. And like the whole UN team, that those guys have been working for a while now, so I'm the new guy there. They just dropped some food and they just go and sit down at some table. at this restaurant.

So there weren't any more chairs for me. So I just look around and I saw these other table that was with some of the guys that were driving the cars for us. There were police, Colombian police. And like to an end of the table there was this gal, this girl, and she was like super ginger, man, like. So I thought, oh, okay. So of course she's UN, right?

So I went, I grabbed my food. And I was like, oh, so may I sit here? And she was like, yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure. So I picked up and that's some accent. So I thought, okay, so she's from around. And we should talk about. So my first question was like, so how long have you been with the UN? And she was, she looked at me and she was like, what?

Yeah, how long have you been working for the UN? And she was like, yeah, I'm FARC. And I thought that she was going to be brownish, like myself, right? Because I'm like in America. and now she was a ginger, like in the middle of the jungle, and she was forked. And I remember I got some coffee or something or some pastry or whatever. So we started talking over lunchtime. And that was the first story that I heard about someone that was a far soldier ride or guerrilla guy.

And she was like, yeah. So I was, I started asking random questions because I was like, shocked. And he was like, so how long have you been? She looked pretty young to me. And she was like, she was around 30-ish. And she was like, yeah, since I was 13. And he was like, yeah, yeah, I've been part of the park since I was 13. And he was like, how does that work?

I mean, and that was the first shocking story that I heard. And she told me that, so her parents. parents were farmers and we're not talking like the way we do farmers or you guys do farmers is like a little farm in the middle of nowhere with a horrible connections within Colombia and they were working just for living growing like little things having a couple of peaks and so on and she was like yeah so when I became 13 my papa was like hey you know what there's a decision that needs to be made here.

Either you become part of the, because he was a farmer, right? Either you become part of a fart, or we can take our chances and you can be a sex slave for the paramilitarist. Jesus. Yep.

Yeah, that's shocking. And it was like, what? Yeah. So we talked, though, like within her family and she was the only girl. And they were like, yeah, so the safest thing for you is just the next time a folk recruiter

gets to our village. you just go with them because they'll take care of you. So, yeah, I was like, what? And so what were you doing? And she was like, yeah, I just went with him. And pretty much, they'd create her like family. And she started cooking and she started doing some nurse duties.

And then when she was like, I reckon bigger, like physically bigger, she became one of their weapons of their soldiers. So that was my first story of FARC, like, okay, so it's not what the books are saying, right? And when you say paramilitary is just for... You're talking about like AUC? Yeah, yeah, yeah, right? Like one of the many, many paramilitaries, but there was the Colombians called them the paramilitares, which is the team that was, well, yeah, the...

non-government military structure that was built to protect certain well-known families, I would guess. That's how it started. And then it developed into a criminal organization over there. So, yeah, the parliament of the time, which were previously service members and police members, and then they turned into this whole mess as a criminal organization. And so they were running rampant, like, through the countryside, just doing their thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty much. So it's super weird how it works there.

And, like, if it was shocking for us, like, being Chilean and coming from this side of the world, I reckon it was even worse if you guys were there because it's hard to understand the way they're living in certain areas over there. And then, like, you guys have been to Colombia. You see like the biggest cities and like well-developed society. And it's actually a super nice place to be around. But then we used to move inland, I would say. You start realizing that there is no presence of the state on a lot of these little towns and villages.

My opinion is that's basically due to lack of infrastructure that they've got, which is one of the things that I would say. say it's one of the adding factors to the equation that it's super hard to move around big cities and they get to these little towns and villages like roads are pretty shitty and so it's hard and because it's jungle it's very hard to like build runways so there's that important fact that there are no police there's no hospital there's like no schooling at in this area. So, well, you guys have been to like Afghanistan and things like that.

Imagine that, but within a lowerish level and full of trees, I would say. Right. It's both jungle and mountainous terrain at the same time. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it is. So it's interesting at the beginning. And it's very shocking to understand the society aspect, the social aspect of it. So, yeah, that was one of the very, very.

first thing that I was shocked about and I started building, you know, another sense of what was going on in Colombia that was completely different before I got there. That's pretty incredible. And so after hunting around these weapons caches out in the jungle, you said you did some work in the headquarters for a little while before heading back home? Yeah, so I did that for around four months or so, I really enjoyed it.

And the team that I had at this camp, it was awesome because there was a Spaniard SF, Portuguese SF, and RGSF. So it was super lucky for me because all the guys were S. And we even had a Cuban SF guy over there. Yeah, dude. It was awesome. Yeah, yeah. He was a super fun guy.

And yeah, so we talked a lot with him and then you understand how Cuba it is from the other side, I would say. Yeah. So it was an awesome team and that team was lead by a UN officer. She was a female. She was a Brit. She had spent most of her life as a UN officer, I would say, field officer. And yeah, so she was our boss and we were the ones doing the heavy lifting.

and she was doing all the political aspect of the mission and all the, most of the admin thing working, I would say. So work there at the camp. So it was very interesting and I had lots of time with those guys. So with these guys, we'd take turns. So we built for Weptus cache extractions, two men team, and plus the four guys, plus some Colombians that would be there with us and then we'd move around the jungle on this biggest,

I believe it was a helicopter. So yeah, so I did that for four-ish months or so. And then I received the call that there was a position that was opening at HQ in Bogota. And they needed someone like from whatever Latin American country, they didn't want someone from Europe that could speak English. And so I got an interview for an interview with a German HR, Gala was doing all the positioning over there. And then I was moved from the jungle to Medellin a couple of days there. Another interview got an air ticket to move to Bogota that next morning. And then another interview with the chief of staff, which turned out to be then my boss for the next seven months or so.

And he was super cool. He was a British former army guy. and he spent the last 12 years as a UN guy. So we became very close also. And I learned a lot. So I was working there doing all these. It was just random little works, I would say. It was a bit of operations.

It was a bit of human resources. It was a bit of liaising with New York over the International Observers Force. And yeah, and then it was another incredible learning experience. for me. It's awesome. And then back home, I mean, once back at the home station, how did you continue on with your special operations career? Yeah, so it was kind of a hold for that whole year. And then, it wasn't like very hard at all. I mean, they moved a guy to my team. And then I came back to leave for like a month maybe or so and then back to reality I would say

back to the teams and getting current on every single portion of the training that's required which it's super hard again it's a year that you haven't done anything like no free-falling no jump mastering no diving no anything so you just go around

back again getting your qualifications back and get getting current again, I would say. Yeah. And those skills, a lot of those skills degrade pretty quickly, don't they? Yeah, yeah. They do. Well, there's some of them, I would say, like not all of them, in my opinion.

Like, foot falling, I reckon it's pretty much like riding a bike. Uh-huh. But, yeah, like, I don't know, the hardest one. I remember, like, doing it was diving and underwater navigation. It took me a while. Mountaineering was the one that took me a while also, like ice climbing, I would say. It was hard again.

But yeah, I mean, the guys, like the sergeant that I had, they were awesome, so they were like super quick on getting me back up to speed on those currencies. And then back to training again. And then looking for whatever comes next on that, the next adventure i would say uh jackson one of our viewers asks if you ever worked with the seventh group sift team uh and if you did what your thoughts were yeah i worked with the seventh um yeah i i i i'm not the guys from seventh um there were different teams i reckon that they were uh

that we were doing training with them um came to yeah i came very close with some of them and then most guys, especially right now, like from the seventh, they come from either first or second generation, from another American country. So they speak perfect Spanish. It's easy for our guys getting their lessons from them due to that fact that they're very professional in Spanish, I guess. And yeah, I really love the guys from the seventh, super professional guys and super fun guys. And yeah, I even met some of the guys that.

I worked here and I met them in Columbia when I was there. So that's how close we were. And just for our edification, what are some of the biggest problems with American special forces? That's a good way. Well, I don't know. I mean, there were some issues that we had to take care of under the radar, I would say. Yeah. Well, you guys know the drill.

There's some heavy drinking involved, I would say, in this process of building international partnership, I would say. Yeah. So, yeah, the drinking is heavy on that part, and that's how, yeah, it was good. But yeah, yeah, I remember, like, we had one guy that there was kind of a big issue, but we were in, like, nothing serious or anything. But one guy drag a whole bunch of dogs into a five-star hotel. here in Tilly and it was like dogs that he had found in the street so they were like with the

fleece and everything so that was like everyone was complaining about it the next day morning and that was after drinking of course but yeah dr do and and how many times did you have to go to the police station with credentials in order to get those guys out of the house not that many honestly not that many yeah but there were a few they honestly there were a few and they were like more than a few I have to pick up my guys and, like, yeah, I figured it out some, some, some, yeah, doing some relations. Because over here, like our police force, they just, they just don't care if you are like whatever rank within the military, they just don't care. So, yeah. That's funny.

What do you see is the future of your country's special operations forces? What directions are you moving in? What security threats do you think you're moving to counter in the next decade? Yeah, that's a good question, and I'm not really sure, Jack, about it, because I haven't been involved with the guys for a time now, so I've been doing my own things. But I reckon, or my opinion, it would be the, I just love optimization. So I think everything like with inflation and the economy, it's a worldwide thing. that's going on. So I think that the challenges are not operational. I would think that the challenges that not only us, but like every single small unit that's demanding budget from whatever government is,

it faces the reality of being necessarily needing to optimize all its process and making more of that pesos in our reality. worthwhile for the society. So I reckon that that's the next big step. Just proving the capabilities worth to the policy makers and the- Yeah, absolutely. And then there is this, then again, this is my opinion, I guess, but I think you have to prove that you are able to do something if it's required as in combat-wise, but then again, you need to prove yourself that you are able to help when society and your government requires it,

as in like earthquakes, because we've got a whole bunch of earthquakes around here. Tsunamis. Volcano eruptions. So there's all these natural disasters that we have to face every now and then. So I reckon that due to specifics of SF, there is a whole bunch of things that,

the guys can do when they're knitted within the natural disaster scenarios, absolutely. Yeah, and it's sort of a rescue and relief kind of function. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a lot, like, like, I can go for like plenty of mind scenarios that the units can perform and can actually deliver for people that are in need within those natural disaster. Sters and Ivers, absolutely. Yeah. The New Zealand SAS did that a couple of years ago when there's a volcano eruption.

And it just sounded like a hollacious mission. They had to wear like full protective suits and go through all this volcanic ash to recover the remains of civilians who died in the volcano eruption. Yeah. It just sounds like it was a grueling mission for them. Yeah, I remember like when I was super young, there was this huge earthquake. I was going to say terremoto, whatever. So yeah, we had this huge earthquake.

It was 2010, I believe it was, and it was the first time that we did, I did body recoveries. And it was down south, so down our southern area is pretty much like your Alaskan area, right? But with fjords, so it's full of a little sea passage around little islands. And there was a big earthquake and it pulled a big tsunami. into certain villages and just wiped them off and yeah my team was sent there and we started diving and when we realized that how limited our diving capabilities were because the the fjords were anywhere like you would go from maybe a meter depth uh two meters 50 meters 20 meters and they would drop all the way to 300 meters yeah so

Yeah, there's not much you can do. So whatever, we were diving there. And we started looking for bodies. And we find a few of them. And then I realized that, yeah, there's a lot of potentials for Chilean SF under those scenarios. So, yeah, there's a lot of that the guys can now do about and help with their capabilities. Yes. Does Chilean SF sort of go through like phases? Because you guys have been fortunate to have, you know, to not have real threats, you know, or regional threats. So do, does Chilean SF go through phases where you're fighting for your budget, where you go through, you know, times when you're downsized and then grow again and things like that? Well, at least when I was in not on the, on the, on the, um, on the.

the numbers of the force, I would say. But yeah, definitely you have to fight for budget. So every single year, I guess when I was with the teams, I would definitely fight for budget and getting as much as I could within our reality. So, yeah, that there is a lot of that. I have a kind of a question to ask out of curiosity, if nothing else. So Chile has a part of the Antarctic territory. And I was wondering if you're, if you're, if your special operations forces do any training in Antarctica, or if there's any missions, they have to be on call to respond to down there. Yeah, so that's an awesome question.

No, there isn't an agreement for Antarctica, which is a no... Demilitarized? Yeah, yeah, that's the word. Yeah, definitely no, there's no militarization of Antarctica within all the countries. And there's a whole bunch of countries. I mean, all the way from Russia to the U.S., the Aussies, us, the RGs, yeah, there's a whole bunch of countries that share the territory and there's an international agreement for non-militarization of the Antarctica at all.

So no, we don't do any training or responses there, except I know that there's some guys that are on call for SAR purposes, but that's about it. What's SAR? Oh, you mean like SOTUS and rescue? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. And we have a question from Patreon.

Isaac asked, have the Chilean special operations community ever had to have assets in the drug war? I don't think so. Not that I know at all, no. When I was there, no, I would say. What do you think separates? Because in, you know, in a number of countries around you or near, I wouldn't say director or any bit near you, you know, they have had a number of issues with internal strife and things like that. What do you think sets like Chile apart where where there hasn't been sort of that Marxist Leninus influx or the problems with like

drug mogul, you know, those types of things? That's a good. That's a good one. I'm not sure. My guess would be like we are so far away from everything. There's some books that they called Tillian Island because of how far and how isolated we are from the rest of the world due to like Andes Mountain and to the super dry desert up north and then the whole coast over the west and Ontario on the south so it seems that we're very isolated and and and we don't get any as much as the issues that the rest of the world gets and then again I think it's because of culturally speaking

we're a bit different, I would say, because of the same fact. That's just my opinion, because we're more isolated and we tend to be more, you know, focus on our own issues and not on the issues,

the world issues, I would say. And then we don't get that much of threats on this part of the world. Yeah. And then Isaac also asked, you know, instead of asking,

But like have you guys ever been called to assist like partner nations for like drug wars or for internal strife? No, not that I know and not on the 15 years. I was with the teams at all. I reckon that there were a couple of international efforts for like under the UN for Cyprus, Haiti. I think there was something going on during the 80s within the proven Ecuadorian war after it. But that's about it. I mean, not something like not recently at all. Right.

And those are more part of the international community then as a partner force conducting actual military operations. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, every single time that I've been aware, the guys go around under a U.S. resolution. Yeah. UN. Yeah, UN resolution. Yeah. So, John, tell us a little bit about where you're at today, what you have going on.

I know you've talked to me a little bit about, you know, kind of your transition to civilian life or trying or starting up your own company. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Jack. Yeah, yeah. So transitioning, it's been quite interesting, I would guess. Well, you guys went through it. So, yeah, there was just, I still miss the teams. I mean, honestly, I, it is. I reckon it's a love and hate relation. Well, you guys can't think that you guys can relate to it. But yeah, so there was this point when I had to like do something else. So I always thought about doing my own thing. And so yeah, I built my own training company a few months ago.

So it's still a small thing. We're doing, we can shooting classes to civilian and, different people that want to learn how to shoot and properly shoot. So it's not something like funny or some whatever instructor that's telling them how to shoot. So we hired only tier one guys from here. And we have been training people on those techniques, I would say. So yep. So I looked at the business model, a lot of former U.S. special things.

forces guys we're doing and we started to develop the same business model with the adaptations that were required for our for our specifics business environment here and we build what's called sodic I don't know if you guys remember sodic yeah it's a special operations target end up talk yeah yeah yeah I always want to go to that school but then I realized that there There wasn't any more Solic school. Well, they just changed the name. It's called the Special Forces

Sniper School or Sniper course now. Yeah, yeah, I talked to one of my seventh sniper friends, and he told me saw that the guys change the name, and it was just name changed. The course still around. Because nobody knew what targeted an addiction meant.

Dude, that's a cool name. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah, so I met some, so I started knocking some doors. And then I met a couple of guys that had some business experience and that they were able to understand the business model that I was presenting to them. And this took me like, honestly, like four to five months. So it was like before we started the business.

So it was a whole new thing that I was doing. And so I started knocking doors and I'm trying to find someone that would partner with me and that would bring something to the table. So I met this couple of guys and these guys were awesome. And I explained the business model. And then we came up with a Zodic. So, but it's, we changed the last C instead of course. So I changed it for company. So it's special operations target interdiction company.

And so yeah, so we, we build Zodic Academy, sodia academy.com, actually. So we own that place. and that's our small tactical business that we're building. Are you hoping to, you know, like the American model, I guess, is there certain companies like, I mean, there's tons of them. Mid-South is one of them. Blackwater was one of them back in the day, where they were bringing in actual special operations units

and training them at these civilian training academies or training sites. Is that something you're interested in doing for your military? Yeah, we would like to, but then it's complicated because there's a whole bunch of legal red tape that you got, that you've got to figure out. And especially here, I mean, if you guys think that you get it complicated, like to buying a gun, like try to buy a gun over here. It's just, it's crazy. You still can. So we try to facilitate that process for people. They're going to own a gun, like farmers and people, business owners.

and then we teach them how to properly use their weapons on a defensive protection mode for them. So it's not something like crazy or anything. It's just the proper adjust to reality use of weapons. So yeah, it's one of the things that we're looking to grow. And I think that we will be able to manage that legal red tape here. And if we are able, I'll definitely try to expand the business model to our partner nations and, like, leveraging on the fact that we have built this relation with foreign, a Latin American, Central American itself to, like, build some partnership with them. So we're looking for that in the next year or so.

So you guys are offering, like, right now, low light shooting, defense shooting, fundamental shooting, survival, that would be great. And shotgun basics. I'd go down there and do the survival course As long as I get to sleep in a bed Yeah, exactly Yeah, if you If there's a hotel involved If there's a hotel involved in the survival course

I would definitely do it You tell Dave and I are like We're totally out of it now We've been out of the game for quite a while As long as I can stay in a hotel night And I don't have to walk far To learn how to survive in the wilderness Dave

We can definitely build you a five-star see your experience here at the top top hotels but yeah we can definitely do that for you and we're looking forward for it yeah hey folks I've put the link in the chat but if you're listening to the podcast

it's sodic academy dot com and here's the deal like use us as a destination training right like go down to chili hang out have fun like you know and yeah like it's better than going to

Arizona or going to North Carolina or whatever. If you want to come over, we can definitely set you up with the whole training touristic experience here because there's like a whole bunch of winery thing a lot better than the Californian ones. And I don't want to like offend anyone, but our wine is a lot better. And yeah, so we can definitely build something. I've done it before, like for some British clients that came over and they just loved it. it was an awesome experience for some Germans that came over.

I haven't done it for the U.S. clients, but yeah, it is quite an experience. And as I said before, we are super blessed because we have all these topographic, weatherish and places around within our own country. so it's still super affordable to get to those places within a couple of days. So it's not like traveling a few days to get to whatever. So it's actually super nice. And it's been a wonderful experience to like getting to the business side of things and trying to like pitch clients.

And we're looking to pitch for what I call tactical angel investors to build something bigger and that can go off our borders. if we are able to. So I think that it's something that it will get bigger within a year or two. So, well, it depends on how much money we can rise. But yeah, so that's what I've been doing for the last months or so. These types of companies are pretty frequent. Like you have a lot of tier one guys in the United States who get out and start these companies.

And they're all great companies. And there's a wide range of selections. Except for the ones that try to take over Venezuela. Yeah. Well, you know. Yeah, that was a good one. It was a good one. It was live stream on Facebook.

I think it was like. Yeah, you know, so much for operational security, right? Opsack. But, yeah. But in Chile, is this kind of a normal venture for Tier 1 guys to do? No, no, no, not at all. It's an undeveloped market. Yeah, it's definitely a blue tip, I would say, because it's not.

It's not so. Well, I was, because it's different because we don't get this much of, we don't get this much of some guys that are trying to build their own business. So they're just a few. And even fewer that come from the SF community. So I was super lucky because I had some time at one of our units. So I was able to go back to college. So I went to like night school. I don't know.

Have you guys got that? Oh, yeah. Okay, so yeah, so I got a civilian industrial engineering degree, and I love the business part that they were teaching us there. So that's how it started and I started building ideas back then. And now that I was not related to the teams, and I was legally able to do so. I start building the SOTIC Academy idea.

And we'll see where it takes us. So I'm super excited about the future of the company. Did you get any detention while you were in night school? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So old habits, die hard.

The military didn't beat that out of all. I'm going to take a moment here also to plug our own endeavors. If you guys look down the description to this video, there's a link to our Patreon. If you want to support the stream, you'll get access to two bonus episodes, per month plus also hundreds of hours of bonus segments. The links down the description. And we really appreciate you guys who support the stream and keep this whole thing going. And please make sure that you're subscribed to the channel.

If you haven't already, it's free to subscribe. Hit the bell icon so you get notified whenever we go live. And you know, spread it around. Tell your wife. Tell your kids. Tell the dog. Yeah. Definitely check out.

Definitely check out John Sight at sodickacademy.com. Like, and seriously, that's an awesome. That's an awesome destination vacation. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's true. It's absolutely. It is. And we can set everything for you guys and it's still like a safe place to visit within,

within this side of the world. So. And we've got a huge infrastructure around here until I mean, it has developed in the last 50 years or so. So it's a good, cool place to visit and to like do something fun. So yeah, thank you very much. And if you guys want to shoot me an email. it's a company's

it's a training cell at sodygatademy.com then you can contact me directly I open that email all day and just to reinforce this point like we're not looking at a virtual background right now

we are looking at this skyline it is it is February right what's the temperature there right now John it's an awesome temperature well let me open my conversion

because I we do it on Celsius, right? So I reckon it's a nice 22, 71.6. It's February, 71.6. So if you need any encouragement to go to Chile to take a shooting board. Yeah, this is the background of Santiago at this time. Oh, it's awesome. It's a super nice place and it's warm and it's super nice around.

John, can I ask you to stick around for the bonus segment for a couple minutes, like 10, 15 minutes? Yeah, yeah. It would be an honor. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. And folks, everyone, thank you for coming and joining Dave and John and I and having this conversation tonight. Thanks for joining us. And next Friday, we're going to have Koo Stadler on. He is the author of Rekke. He was a Rekie on a Rekie team in the South African Defense Forces. And I read this book a few years ago. Really, really cool. Some really crazy stories in here. So we're looking to talk to him next Friday. We had a couple more comments real quick. BPA Izzy, thank you very much. Thank you for the very generous donation. He said, great insight on another foreign partner.

And we do appreciate you, John. I mean, it's awesome. Thanks. It was an honor. Thanks so much. And David Shaw, thank you. He said, thanks, guys. Well, thank you, David.

We appreciate it. All right. So, yeah, that's it. Thank you so much, John. You're awesome. Thank you, everyone who joined us tonight. And we will see you guys next Friday.